Bicycle thefts on the rise in Oxford

Bicycle thefts in Oxford are running at their highest level for five years, according to Thames Valley Police, with 2,137 stolen in the year to April 2010, a 16.4% increase on the previous year.

According to BBC Oxford News, police have said that with more and more people cycling into Oxford, lack of suitable bike parking is one of the contributory factors, but Oxfordshire County Council claims that there is adequate provision in the university city.

Sergeant Claire Storry said: "There aren't adequate, secure places to park bikes. Bike parts are being taken by opportunists. If bits are easy to take off, and wheels are not secured, then they are easy to steal. They are also easy to sell on if people want to make money out of them."

But Councillor Arash Fatemian of Oxfordshire County Council disagreed, saying: "There is plenty of parking in the city. Many employers, both public and private, provide secure bike parking for employees. They might not necessarily be always in front of you, but I have always found somewhere to lock my bike."

Reported bike thefts in Oxford in 2009/10 were slightly more than the level seen in the 12 months to April 2006, when 2,107 were stolen. Within two years, that figure had fallen to 1,551 in the year to April 2008, but in the two years since then, the number of thefts has risen by 37.8%.

In a 2009 survey of cycle parking provision in the city, local cycling campaign group Cyclox reiterated calls it had made in a previous survey in 2009 for greater provision to be made in the city.

The survey, carried out in January 2009, identified 1,000 bikes parked either loose or secured to railings, and also highlighted the problem of abandoned bikes taking up space on existing facilities, with three in four bicycles on one bike rack, outside the Lamb & Flag pub on St Giles, being abandoned.

Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.

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gazzaputt[221 posts]6 years ago

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There is a market for stolen bikes. People are willing to buy stolen bikes.

Until people and shops stop buying stolen bikes and parts with no questions asked thefts will increase.

A couple of years ago, slap bang in the middle of Oxford (Ship Street, if you know it, a quiet street that runs off Cornmarket), I saw a white van pull up, two guys got out, one opened the back door, the other picked up a bike that wasn't locked to anything, threw it in the back, and off they drove.

Whole thing took about 10 seconds. I was about 100 yards away, no chance of getting registration number, and my shout of "Oi!" didn't register.

So yes, on the one hand we need to tackle the market, but on the other, some people really make it far too easy for the thieves.

The figure is probably even higher, I had my Ammaco hybrid nicked from Oxford train station but there was no point reporting it - it cost less than the excess on my insurance. Plenty of nicer bikes locked around it, I hearda rumour that cheapo bikes were being nicked for scrap?

Would it be possible to install covered bike parking areas? Access would only be possible with a pass key. In order to get a pass key, you would need to register with, say, the local council, to be given access to the bike parking area.

There must be methods that can be passed on from Boris' bike scheme to other cyclists. Why should Boris' bikes be so secure when the rest of us have to chance it when we lock our bikes up?

Has anyone invented a tracker device for bikes yet? It surely must be possible.